The Kiltwalk has confirmed that it has been forced to cancel two upcoming fundraising events, weeks after replacing its entire board of trustees.

In a statement released this morning, The Kiltwalk confirmed that two planned fundraising events in Dundee and Speyside have been cancelled after the new board conducted a review of the year 2014/15.

Ewan Hunter, interim chair of The Kiltwalk, said: “It is abundantly clear to us that as they stand both the Dundee and Speyside walks are entirely uneconomically viable - had we continued with them every penny raised for charity would have been absorbed by operational costs, hence sadly we are withdrawing these events for 2015.”

The charity also confirmed that five contract workers and three full-time employees have been laid off by the charity. No one from the charity was available to clarify how many people now currently work for The Kiltwalk, but there were 14 members of staff as of March 2015.

Hunter said that the layoffs and decision to cancel the fundraising events this year were made by the new board and its incoming financier Sir Tom Hunter, in order to double the amount of money going to charity from funds raised by The Kiltwalk in the future.

“On that basis and with great regret, five short-term contract employees will leave Kiltwalk one month early as they are no longer required and three full-time employees will be made redundant. In all cases they will receive full compensation and go with our very best wishes for the future.

“To be clear the alternative to this action was to have walkers walk, not for charity but to fund The Kiltwalk and that was not morally right from any perspective in the board’s eyes.” 

The charity’s most recent set of accounts are soon to be published and will show that, under the previous board of trustees, 47p in the pound went to charitable activities. Hunter said that the new board wanted every pound raised by The Kiltwalk to go to charity in the future.

“Our ambition with walkers, fellow charities and sponsors is to make The Kiltwalk an absolutely phenomenal success as a means of raising funds for charity and getting Scotland on their feet walking.

“In 2014 The Kiltwalk raised 47p in the pound for Scottish charities. We aim to double the returns to charity and more, we will take this to £1 for £1 - the more walkers we have, the more money we deliver to Scotland’s children’s charities.”

The Kiltwalk has been struggling since March 2015, when a number of major supporters pulled their support for the charity over its high running costs and relatively low return for good causes. Founder and former chief executive of The Kiltwalk Carey McEvoy stepped down on 13 March. He has yet to be replaced in the role.